“On Monday, the Italian government announced it will cut the country’s VAT on art sales from 22% — the highest in the European Union — to just 5% percent … now the lowest.” A recent study estimated that the reduction could see galleries, antique dealers, and auction houses in Italy generate €1.5 billion in three years. - ARTnews
The statues, from the city’s cathedral, became the city’s property in 1948 and were subsequently moved to Franco’s summer palace at his wife’s request. The dictator’s family held onto them after he died and claimed ownership, a claim the court has now voided. - ARTnews
The copper-coated figures, each weighing almost 150kg, escaped the blaze because they were removed from the Parisian landmark for renovation just four days before flames consumed the roof and destroyed the spire. - The Guardian
While trying to emulate de’ Medici’s arm placement, the man lost his balance and rolled backwards on the balls of his feet, falling back on the painting and making a tear in the lower section of the artwork. - Hyperallergic
Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization has transferred museum artifacts across the country to secure storage locations and closed museums and heritage sites until further notice, according to local reports. - ARTnews
Unlike traditional restoration, which permanently alters the painting, these masks can reportedly be removed whenever needed. So it's a reversible process that does not permanently change a painting. - Ars Technica
For now, Art Basel’s reputation for quality and importance in the art market continues to draw in more seasoned collectors, but that may change in years to come. There are questions about whether galleries need to pivot. - The Art Newspaper
The Picasso painting, an early Blue Period portrait from the permanent collection of the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin, is a star attraction in the special exhibition Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-garde. - The Art Newspaper
“With its fascist posturing, suggestion of militarized violence, laser light shows, and relentless ego-buffing in the form of giant statuary, it’s like World War Z but with fascists instead of zombies (and also on the side of the zombies).” - Hyperallergic
“Artspace, the Minneapolis nonprofit that owns the lofts, sold the city on a vision: affordable housing that would help retain Seattle’s creative soul as redevelopment and rising costs were driving out artists. But the dream shattered.” - Seattle Times
“'Many folks have asked specifically if we are OK,’ said David Kordansky, a Los Angeles dealer who felt the need to defend the image of his city at Art Basel after the White House portrayed it as being under siege by protesters.” - The New York Times
Architects "balked at having their voices clipped. The compromise was to let architects write the texts they wanted (which can be full of jargon and a struggle to parse), and to let A.I. produce shorter, plainer summaries." - The New York Times
“A deconstruction of the relationship between viewer and viewed, depiction and depicted, Las Meninas comprises a nesting doll of paradoxes that play with pictorial space to ask, Just what is it you think you’re looking at?” - ARTnews
